Intel's king of the hill Core i7 980X has all but sold out in Europe. Although retailers were selling the six-core Gulftown for well over €900, enthusiasts seem to have picked the stocks dry withing days of the launch.

Our price search engine is listing 51 retailers who are offering the 980X, but only two of them actually have it in stock. Mind you, we don't follow the entire European market, but retailers from the UK, Germany and Austria are included in the engine. There is a chance you can get the 980X in other European markets, but we wouldn't bet on it.

According to CNET's Brooke Crothers, Japan and US have also seen the 980X stock dry up and even the likes of Alienware and other gaming outfits are struggling to get their hands on the new six-cores.

This is not something that happens to Intel on a regular basis. While graphics shortages are quite common, Intel usually has plenty of chips to go around. It is quite surprising that such a pricey piece of kit could sell out so quickly while everyone is moaning about the recession.

You can check out our search engine results here, and CNET's take on the issue here.